DTS ISO 9000-2001 Certification
DTS is a ISO 9001:2000 Registered Company, by the American Quality Assessors (AQA) which certifies DTS is in full compliant with international Quality Systems (ISO), which focuses on value-added technology business solutions. As an ISO 9001:2000 – certified company, DTS’ commitment to quality and diverse capabilities enable customers to meet specialized requirements through a single or multitude of reliable sources.
ISO 9000 Overview
ISO 9000 is a family of ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 was developed from the British Standards Institution's BS 5750. The ISO 9000 standards are maintained by ISO and administered by accreditation and certification bodies. Although the standards originated in manufacturing, they are now employed across a wide range of other types of organizations. In fact, according to ISO in 2004, "service sectors now account by far for the highest number of ISO 9001:2000 certificates - about 31% of the total" - source: the ISO Survey 2004
ISO 9000 is intended to make sure that the product-any product-has been produced in the most efficient and effective manner possible. ISO 9000 does not guarantee the compliance (and therefore the quality) of end products and services; rather, it certifies that consistent business processes are being applied.
ISO Certification
ISO does not itself certify organizations. Many countries have formed accreditation bodies to authorize certification bodies, which audit organizations applying for ISO 9001 compliance certification. It is important to note that it is not possible to be certified to ISO 9000. Although commonly referred to as ISO 9000:2000 certification, the actual standard to which an organization's quality management can be certified is ISO 9001:2000. Both the accreditation bodies and the certification bodies charge fees for their services. The various accreditation bodies have mutual agreements with each other to ensure that certificates issued by one of the Accredited Certification Bodies (CB) are accepted world-wide.
The applying organization is assessed based on an extensive sample of its sites, functions, products, services, and processes and a list of problems ("action requests" or "non-compliances") made known to the management. If there are no major problems on this list, the certification body will issue an ISO 9001 certificate for each geographical site it has visited, once it receives a satisfactory improvement plan from the management showing how any problems will be resolved.
An ISO certificate is not a once-and-for-all award, but must be renewed at regular intervals recommended by the certification body, usually around three years.
For more information, visit the International Organization for Standardization's website.